Men at Increased Risk from Thrombosis

Men are at an increased risk of diseases heart attack and stroke caused by the inappropriate formation of a blood clot than women. Now the reason behind this has been discovered by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

To study the matter, Ethan Weiss and colleagues at the university used a mouse model of thrombosis.

Thrombosis-related proteins are made in the liver, where expression of the genes containing the information needed for their generation is regulated by growth hormone (GH), which is secreted in a sex-specific manner - males secrete GH in a pulsatile fashion, whereas females secrete GH continuously.

In this study, GH-deficient mice were protected from thrombosis in the model of disease.

When female GH-deficient mice were given pulsatile GH (to mimic the manner in which GH is secreted in males) their ability to form blood clots resembled male mice.

Conversely, when male GH-deficient mice were given continuous GH (to mimic the manner in which GH is secreted in females) their ability to form blood clots resembled female mice.

The researchers therefore conclude that sex-specific patterns of GH release mediate the gender-associated differences observed in susceptibility to diseases caused by inappropriate thrombosis, information that they hope will be of help in the development of sex-specific treatments for thrombosis.

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